Just a typical Joe who sadly happens to be possessed by evil spirits. Due to his origins, Zappa lacks basic combat skills, but when the spirits inside are awakened he can unleash incomprehensible destructive powers. His inner demons are legion, and when he's pushed far enough Zappa summons up the evilest and most vile spirit of all. Don't make him angry! You won't like him when he's angry! Zappa searches for Faust to relieve him of his terrible affliction.

S-ko is the spirit that has possessed Zappa, and is actually a homage/reference to Sadako, a character from the Japanese horror film Ring. Zappa's Instant Kill is also a reference to the movie Ring.

Special Attacks

<tbody>

Command Name

Command Motion

Special Notes

Summon Spirit

236P

RC. Summons a spirit, does not work if spirits is already summoned. Summons Raou if you have 8 souls

Ghost: Go Away and Don't Come Back

236S_H

FRC, AIR, +1 Soul

Sword: Looks Painful

236S

RC, +1 Soul

Sword: Looks Painful Extra

(During Looks Painful) H

RC, +3 Soul

Sword: Fall Down Go Boom

623H

RC, +1 Soul

Sword: Stay Away or Die

63214H

RC, +1 Soul

Raou: Darkness Anthem

236S

Raou: Darkness Anthem Extra

(During Darkness Anthem) P

Raoh: Last Edguy

214S

RC

Dog Attack

5_4_6_2_8D

+3 Soul on 2D, +1 Soul on 8D

Dog Extra Attack

(During 4D) D

</tbody>

Overdrive and Instant Kill Attacks

Command Name

Command Motion

Special Notes

It's Alive!!!

632146H

Dismisses spirit

Raou: Bellow Maris

632146S

Frightening!

236236H

Instant Kill

Zappa is by far the hardest character to master in Guilty Gear X2. What makes him so difficult to learn is that he's soley dependent on his spirits to do all the damage for him. You need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of all four types of spirits because Zappa summons them randomly (with the exception of Raou, who you want to get at all times).

All three of Zappa's main spirits do a good job of helping the poor guy out against the rest of the cast in GGX2. Ghost mode is one of the more annoying modes because with each attack you also get an additional projectile attack thrown at your enemy that can seriously disrupt their flow. Dog mode is fun if you want to rush down your opponent, but the dog will disappear if it is attacked itself. On top of that, the dog has limited mobility, which makes it an easy target if left by itself. However the dog does have some pretty interesting attacks, such as Dog Extra Attack, which counts as an overhead and will hit crouching opponents. It's a cinch to start a simple ground attack with low attacks, throw in Dog Extra Attack and watch your opponent become unable to block because of both the low and high attacks hitting them at the same time. Dog mode's 2D attack also has the same property, so you can apply that strategy to this attack as well.

Sword mode is probably the most powerful mode you have in terms of pure damage being dealt. It has a nice stagger move (although it can set you back out of range for a followup attack) and a fantastic anti-air in Fall Down Go Boom. It has good priority, plus it recovers pretty fast which makes it a safe move to use for people who are jumping in. Because Sword mode is so effective in "traditional" combat, it's also the best mode to use in order to accumulate the 8 souls needed to summon Raou to battle.

As for Raou, he doesn't really need too much strategy. The man is like the freakin' Hulk for crying out loud. Anything Raou connects with is going to do some massive damage to your opponent. Be sure to abuse Last Edguy a lot, and make sure that you do not ever... ever use use It's Alive Overdrive while Raou is out on the field, as it casts away any spirit that you have attached to you.

The last thing you should know about Zappa is that his Summon Spirit also acts as an attack too, and it's mighty effective if you want to summon Raou as quickly as possible. By simply sweeping your opponent with 2D and then quickly using Summon Spirit, it will net you a free trio of Orbs you can use to summon Raou, plus a new spirit for present use.